Does Amaro Actually Help with Digestion?

Amaro is rather ritualistic. It’s the decrescendo to a climactic meal, a salve to a rich dinner and a reason to linger around the table just a little longer. 

The tradition stretches across Europe, where digestivos serve as the closing act to an indulgent evening. The French bookend meals with Benedictine, absinthe and pastis. In Spain, vermouth reigns. Croatians cheer with Pelinkovac; Hungarians with Pálinka.

All of these elixirs are renowned for their digestive qualities, supposedly soothing the stomach after a feast. But are these benefits real? Or just romantic?

A Spoonful of Amaro

“The origins of amaro—the Italian word for bitter—extend to the beginnings of written human history,” says Ted Breaux, a research chemist and botanical expert who studies Victorian-era plant medicine. He also co-founded New World Amaro with legendary bartender Dale DeGroff. 

In their earliest iterations, herb-infused drinks like amaro were made to act as preservatives. Producers used wine (or vinegar) to extract aromatics, concentrate botanicals and preserve raw ingredients.

Along the way, drinkers discovered that the mix, made well, tasted pretty good. “It was a popular practice in Greece to consume aromatized, sweetened wines before a large meal,” says Breaux. “It’s from the Latin verb ‘aperire’ (to open), as in to open one’s stomach, that we get the word ‘aperitif.’”

Around 100 B.C., King Mithridates’  intense fear of being poisoned led him to search the forest for botanicals that might fortify his body and protect him from the fatal effects of poisoning. He landed upon a “universal antidote:” sweet fig, acacia juice, cardamom, anise, gentian root, poppy tears, parsley, carrot seeds, saffron, ginger, cinnamon and turpentine. He took it daily with wine.

As distillation popularized in the 12th century, botanical beverages bloomed. “High-proof ethanol’s superiority over wine as a solvent for plant essences spawned a new age of botanical medicines, perfumes, preservatives and, of course, liquors,” says Breaux. 

A few hundred years later, when thieves pilfered the bodies of plague victims for money, they covered themselves in a potion of herbs thought to protect against disease. The concoction included clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary preserved in aromatic vinegars and alcohols. 

As legend goes, the thieves were caught red-handed, but then released for clemency in exchange for the recipe. Those herbs—still known by herbalists as the “four thieves”—were believed to have antiseptic, antibacterial and fungicidal benefits. 

By the 19th century, these herbal drinks had diverged into two categories: aperitivo, which prepares the stomach for food, and amaro, which helps food on its way down and out.

“The core flavor of amaro is generally anchored by strongly flavored, bitter and resinous plants, all of which have been long associated with stimulating digestion,” says Breaux. 

Historically, producers have selected specific botanicals based on proximity, flavor and medicinal properties. Milk thistle, for example, is a hepatoprotective, meaning it can help prevent liver damage. Aloe ferox (from South Africa) and rhubarb offer laxative properties. Galangal aids digestion, as does gentian quassia amara (a bitter wood from Central America) and Cynara (an artichoke relative). 

“Ginger tends to improve digestion because the compound responsible for the taste of ginger, gingerol, interacts with the cells in the intestinal wall and reduces inflammation caused by poor digestion and inflammatory microorganisms in the gut,” explains Dr. Bryan Le, a California-based food scientist at Mendocino Food Consulting and author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered. “Gingerol also increases blood flow to the gut by stimulating the blood vessels in the surrounding area. Similarly, both turmeric and peppermint can have similar effects on the gut and its microbiome.”